Various types of components or products are frequently shipped from site-to-site in tote boxes or containers. The containers are commonly a nesting type in which the side and end walls of the container converge downwardly and inwardly to permit the empty containers to be nested for storage.
To prevent tampering or pilferage of the contents, the containers in some cases have been provided with lids that can be locked to the container. For optimum acceptability, the lids should be integrally connected to the container so that the lid will not be lost or misplaced when the empty containers are returned. In addition, the lids should completely enclose the open top of the container and be lockable to the container, and yet when the container is empty, the lid should not interfere with the nesting relationship of the containers.
For economic considerations, the container and lid should be of simple design and should be capable of being molded of plastic materials.
In addition to the lid being locked to the container to prevent pilferage of the contents, the lid should also be interconnected with the container in a manner such that bulging or deformation of the side walls of the filled container will be prevented to prevent gaps being formed between the lid and the container wall and the resulting exposure of the contents.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,463,345, is directed to a container having lid sections which can be locked to the container. With the container of the aforementioned patent, the free edge of each lid section is provided with a series of spaced fingers or projections which interfit with fingers of the opposite lid section to provide a closure for the open end of the container.
In the container construction, as described in the aforementioned patent, the central portions of the lid sections are depressed to form a recess to receive the lower end of an upper stacked container.
The container, as described in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,463,345, has certain disadvantages, one being that it requires a certain ability on the part of the operator to inerlock the fingers of the two lid sections in order to provide the closure. Furthermore the multiplicity of fingers require a substantial tooling cost and are subjected to damage during use. As the lid sections are provided with a recess to receive an upper stacked container, the container construction is not suited to banding in which a band is wrapped around the container to lock the lid to the container. The banding would extend across the recess in the lid sections and prevent the bottom of the upper stacked container from being received within the recess.